as a mother of 3 girls and the partner of a wrongly convicted sex offender i have to agree and disagree with sarah's law.i would approve of any law that protects children but i would be worried about the rights of the people that are wrongly convicted

joan, warwick,

Why implement a new law to cover the one in a million chance that a child will be assaulted or murdered by a stranger? Surely efforts should be made to educate children on how to deal with assault from family, friends or people in a position of trust!

The media latch on to the one in a million. . .What of the unjustly accused or wrongly convicted? What about the rights of the child being overprotected by parents due to this debarcle?

And how dare the Home Secretary single out single mothers? What statistics do they have indicating that as a group our children are more at risk?

Allison MacPhee, Coleford,

I am interested as to how single parents will be able to check if their partner is a sex offender. Do they need to prove that they are already in a relationship with this person? It would be slightly worrying to find out they were a sex offender only once in a relationship with them! And if they didn't have to prove relationship status, couldn't they just enquire about anyone that they know? In that case, it would only be a matter of time before all of the sex offenders' names would be listed in the tabloids.

Kelly, Manchester,

I can easilly see that access to information on true proven offenders ,who have committed Paedophilic crimes , can have both good outcomes.And also tragic and incredibley wronge outcomes.
A great many people who have committed crimes against children were in fact employed and recriuted by social services departments ,in care homes and departmenst around the country. Some social workers have been so unhelpfull to childrens needs, when the could have intervened,and saved both cruelty and the tragic loss of childrens lives occurring.Are they not in many cases almost complicit to the tragic outcomes?
Our police and social services have not acted as they should at all times and placed the truth and childrens needs ahead of there carreer requirements or the area or departmental policies they run.Frankly I beleive in this day and age,so much more harm is ahappening to children/young people.Because of the blindness of those charged to care.God help us all.

w.thornton, Margate, Kent UK

As a U.S. citizen I can tell you how comforting it is to have the sex offender registery. I have three children, and when we moved into a new neighborhood recently, it was wonderful to be able to check the registery to make sure there wasn't a repeat sex offender living near where my children live and play.
The system has it's flaws and shotcomings. Not all offenders register properly, and you never know who the new first time offender might be, but it has been shown time after time that most sex offenders repeat their crimes and it is the innocent child that has to suffer the consequences.
The registry in NY state gives exact details of a sex offender, photo,description, home address, vehicle make model and license. You may also find out where these people work so there is very little mistake as to who they are and you personally have to register your info so the system isn't abused.
The sex offender gave up their rights when they commited a heinous crime. PROTECT CHILDREN!

Heather G., Albany, USA/NY

Some states in US are back-tracking on Megans law. The reason is that paedophiles who were being monitored by the local police simply moved due to their being named under Megans Law, and then there was no monitoring at all. I don't know the stats in detail - perhaps the specific details are on the web. But it certainly has backfired at times in the US.

dt, cheltenham, england

Why legislate for the one in a million chance that a child may be attacked by a stranger, when the inherent danger is more likely to be a person in a position of trust. It is not the risk that has increased, it is the media that has highlighted the rare cases that occur that has caused childhoods to be lost due to a parent's over protection.

What gives the home office the right to consider single parents more likely to be unable to educate their child of the risks that not only exist from the public but from family as well? How dare they!

Educate children to the dangers by all means, but what of the one person who may have been unjustly accused and their life ruined?

MacPhee, Coleford,

This is crazy!
Forget about the minefield this is folks...think about PROPERTY PRICES!!!!
What happens when YOU want to sell your house and the solicitor searches comes back with "10 paedophiles in the area"!!!!! Who is going to buy it???
How many thousands of pounds are you willing (£10k? £20k? £50k?....)to lose just for the "benefit" of knowing these people live in the area???

Bill, Wales,

If the scheme is limited to requests by parents and teachers, why is that the case? If I don't have any children of my own, but a friend and her children come to visit me regularly, am I going to be able to make a request for information about my neighbours? If not, then those kids are going to be in more danger than the local children whose parents presumably WILL know about the offender living around the corner, and will keep them inside.

Freya, London, UK

This is frightening. Following the News of the World ‘expose’ of paedophiles numerous innocent people were attacked by the baying lynch mob for either looking like someone pictured in the paper or for even having the same surname. A doctor had his home sprayed with the word ‘Paedo’. He was a paediatrician !!

Stating that a sex offender lives in your street without providing exact details will make everyone a suspect and a target for the brainless vigilantes. How does that make life safer for anyone let alone children ?

SDJ, London,

Why not keep all the pervs locked up then we'll all know exactly where they are! And stuff their human rights - they aren't human, they're monsters!

Lindsay, Bristol,

Regardless of ifs and buts, it's a good idea to know who your neighbour is.

In case one day you decide to go out for the evening and let the neighbour babysit for your child.

Every thing that can warn you of dangers is good, if a paedophile is lurching in my neighbourhood I would certainly want to know.

These people are sick, a lot of them might have rehabilitated but do you want to take a chance? I don't.

Charles, London, UK

"Single mothers will be able to ask police about the risk posed by new partners" - Sexism is everywhere!

Why "single mothers" and not "single fathers"? Are there no female offenders? What a rubbish.

And how can a separated / single father check a new partner of his ex?

Leon, Reading, UK

Can this law really be a deterrent? If someone is a paedophile, will a register really change that? Surely it will simply mean that paedophiles and other sex offenders end up living in streets where there are no children. As ever, single childless people will end up paying the price for the unreasonable demands of parents. Singletons are already bled dry by families as it is. Soon, they will be nothing more than a slave labour force for greedy families.

Carol, Derby,

I'm amazed, as low as my opinion is of John Reid, I was convinced he wasn't such a craven populist that he would actually propose such measures. The whole proposal is based on the fact that paedophiles are immobile creatures who cannot take a bus or a train or walk for a few miles. As far as I know, this premise is not correct.

Joe, brussels, belgium

I do not feel that the underlying structure and necessary communication currently exists to support a Saras Law in the U.K.

From my experience, there are far too many barriers, to allow the free flow of information. For example....There are 43 different Police Forces, in the U.K..
Many of these Forces have different rules and protocols on the release of information to outside agencies and the Public. Each force choses its own I.T. systems.

There needs to be much preparatory work and education with the general public, also, before this scheme is rolled out.
From my Public/Police education and liaison work and experience with Police Forces in North America, this is a highly volatile and emotional issue, which needs intensive preparatory management planning and ongoing maintenance.
Without this foundation, Sara's Law, will face major problems and likely fail in its goals.

Patricia van der Veer, Liverpool, U.K.

The law of unintended consequences strikes again.

You don't need a detailed survey to realise that risk is not correlated to where registered offenders live. Sarah Payne was abducted by someone who lived maybe 20 miles away, and Ian Huntley wasn't registered. But this scheme works as if the opposite is in fact true.

This scheme, however unintentionally, will encourage people to incorrectly assess risk in exactly the same way that the Paynes themselves appear to have done - that, after all, is what people do - and when it does, then some children will end up at increased risk

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

If you meet someone new and decide to start a relationship with him, what would be your first priority - to build up the essential foundations of trust and openness, or to trot off to the police and have them check him out for paedophile tendencies?

RW, UK,

On the face of it this is a good idea providing that mothers concerned about new partners can find out if their new partner is a child sex offender.

However, many people are on "the register" for a variety of reasons such as a 17 year old boy having sex with a 15 year old girl. Girls of 17 have sex with boys of 15. This does not make them paedophiles.

There are also hundreds of men who are falsely accused of sexual abuse on the register. There are men who are guilty of sex abuse of a child on "the register" who change their names so once in a new relationship the woman can't check them out.

I cannot see how this would work in reality. On paper it's a good idea. But......how can this be policed bearing in mind that there are not enough officers to police those who are on the register anyway?

SOFAP, Lancashire, UK